The stems are up to 15 cm in diameter, semisucculent without spines, covered with transverse leaf-scars.

It is branched from the base, the older parts gradually becoming knotty and very thick.

The inflorescences are terminal cymes, usually reduced to a single semi-sessile 6 millimeters wide cyathium at the tip of each stem.

[6] The leaves were gathered and cooked as a green vegetable in the Canary Islands.

[7] As most other succulent members of the genus Euphorbia, its trade is regulated under Appendix II of CITES.